Is it easier to breed ASF's over rats?

[dsmalex97]

Pretty much what the title says...

I was just looking through some info on here and the weights seem realllly low for these guys, and to wait 2 months or longer to have a nice size rodent seems a little long no? I was interested because my rats don't smell realllly bad, but enough to bother me so I'm thinking about switching. Just wondering what you guys think is more efficient in terms of having the right amount and right size rodents, at the right time. Thanks all!!

[greghall]

YES they are easier to breed & yes they smell less & produce more babies,BUT they grow slow its best to breed alot because adults balls like the retired breeders since they are much bigger than ones that have not bred they seem to double in size after the first 2 litters. on the other hand rats grow too fast for me in a month they are too big for most of my snakes + some of my BPs like ASFs over anything else.

[hmj75]

I breed both and i'll take rats over asf's anyday....The advantages I see to asf's is less smell and more tolerable to heat...Litter sizes I don't see the big hype about..I have rats that throw out 15+ babies...Now for rats they grow a lot faster and don;t need to worry about introducing new males and females and worry about cannalism like with the asf's.

[greghall]

I breed in my house & if I had to raise the amount of rats that I need it would not be nice if I had a out biulding I would have both also but rats in the house is not tolerable.

[dsmalex97]

hmmmmm....

I would like to hear more on this and more opinions. Seems to be a lot of pros and cons for each. It seems like you would need like double the amount because they are soooo smalll! I have some big girls and they would eat like four of them at a time lol. I really hope someone could chime in on how to make these productive, cuz right now it seems like they require too much time, and I don't see much of a big deal besides smell(which I know jack about),and the heat tolerance as well.

And Greg, if you follow a strict breeding schedule you should be able to have the right size rat at the right time. You just need to start the breeding project up slowly, and knock them up at the right time lol. Theres a sweet sticky on it.

Anyway, still wanna hear everyones 2 cents on this.

[hmj75]

Like the saying goes time is money....A usual asf adult could be anywhere 70-90 grams but takes a great amount of time to get there...Usually the groups are small like a 1.3...A small rat in one month is that size already specially the males that grow quicker and are the ones you want to feed off cause they smell more.You can build a concrete tub rack that holds 5-6 levels and keep a 1.5 ratio and have rats available every time,specially if you have big females that can take 3-5 small rats at a time....

[crusher]

i gotta say though... rats are much better when it comes to temperment... asf's are little bastards... i dont keep them anymore because one chewed a hole through metal and then they all escaped overnight causing all kinds of havoc... including bites to my father's toes while he was sleeping that required medical attention...

[dsmalex97]

i gotta say though... rats are much better when it comes to temperment... asf's are little bastards... i dont keep them anymore because one chewed a hole through metal and then they all escaped overnight causing all kinds of havoc... including bites to my father's toes while he was sleeping that required medical attention...

ahahaha ok, I think I am convinced. Rats are the way to go I'm thinking. I'm going to build a rack I think, these bins are taking up too much room. I really don't see what the big deal is about these asf's. Thanks everyone for chiming in.

[greghall]

youll see most all big breeders do both rats & ASF's or have access to them. ASFs are BP candy!